Truck for transporting business machine punched cards



Oct. 25, 1955 v s. L. MILLER 2,721,662

TRUCK FOR TRAN-SPORTING BUSINESS: MACHINE PUNCHED CARDS Filed Nov. 15, 1952 INVENTOR. STANLEY L. MILLER TTORNEY.

United States Patent Ofiice TRUCK FOR TRANSPORTING BUSINESS MACHINE PUNCHED CARDS Stanley L. Miller, Worcester, Mass., assignor to The Wright Line, Inc., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 15, 1952, Serial No. 320,658

3 Claims. (Cl. 211-71) This invention relates to a truck for transporting business machine punched cards, and more particularly to a truck of this type in which the cards are'supported substantially horizontally in elongated vertically positioned trays.

Various types of business machines are employed for punching cards in accordance with tabulated data and for sorting the cards thereafter in accordance with the punched openings. The sorting machine, for example, is so made and operated that it is desirable to have the cards supported in substantially horizontal positions. Trays have been accordingly provided for the cards, which have elongated side and back walls and an open front arranged to support the cards horizontally and permit their removal through the open front. These trays may be mounted-on the top of the business machine, and the cards are thus readily available for removal from the front of the tray for the required machine operation. The trays are also so constructed that they may be stored or used in a horizontal position or with the cards held vertically and available for inspection and removal in a normal manner. It has been found that for the machine operator to carry the trays of cards from storage to the business machine involves considerable labor and a waste of time, and it is therefore desirable that a truck be employed for this transportation.

It is accordingly the primary object of this invention to provide a truck construction which will serve for transporting a large number of the vertically arranged card filled trays with the cards held in a substantially horizontal position ready for use at the business machine, and wherein the truck is so constructed that the trays are not liable to fall from their vertical positions but will be safely carried and the cards held securely in position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of this general type having a comparatively inexpensive and simple construction and which not only serves the intended purposes but is also pleasing in appearance and may be made to harmonize with the business machines and other office furniture, and wherein its construction is such that the trays are held vertically tilted toward the back and in such positions that they may be individually removed readily without interference with one another. Further objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the truck, which is partly broken away to show details of construction and on which one of the file trays is supported; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional detail of a portion of the bottom and inner frame construction.

In accordance with this invention, I have provided two tray supporting platforms and 11 which cooperate with two rods 12 and 13 to hold trays 14 of elongated substantially parallelepipedon shapes rearwardly tilted but in substantially vertical positions. The platforms 10 and 11 comprise centrally positioned ribs or tray posi- 2,721,662 Patented Oct. 25, 1955 tioning members, such as the half cylindrical or channel shaped ribs 15 and 16, which project upwardly and have materially greater widths than have the rods 12 and 13 arranged vertically thereover. The flat portions 17 of the platforms 10 and 11 which form shelves at each side of the projecting ribs 15 and 16 may be rearwardly tilted so as to support the trays 14 in tilted positions. These flat shelves 17 are preferably horizontal, and the tray tilting is caused by the raised rubber strips 18 located at and parallel to the front edge of each of the shelves 10 or 11.

Each tray has a bottom wall 19, the rear edge of which rests on the platform shelf 17 and is tilted by the rubber strip 18 in a direction which urges the cards toward the rear wall 20 of the tray. The tray has two side walls 21 and a handle 22 near the top for carrying the tray. The bottom wall 19 may also comprise an outwardly turned front flange 24 which serves as a secondary handle, whereby the tray may be carried horizontally or even bottom side up if a compressor is used therein to support the cards at the opposite end of the pile. That bottom 19 is preferably tilted slightly rearwardly so as to make less than a right angle with the rear wall 20, as indicated in Fig. 1, and thus aid further in urging the cards towards the wall 20 and making it difiicult for them to slide forward outwardly through the front opening between the vertical walls 21.

The truck construction comprises two side plates or inner end walls 30, each having two parallel spaced channel irons 31 welded on their outer sides and serving for strengthening purposes. These channel irons are so spaced that the tubes or rods 12 and 13 may pass through an opening in each side plate 30 and be welded to the opposite faces of the channel irons, thus holding the tubes solidly in place. The bottom platform 11 may be a single plate of sheet metal shaped as shown in the drawings to provide not only the hemi-cylindrical part 16 but also the horizontal tray supporting shelf 17 and a lower horizontal level portion 34. A peripheral flange 35 is welded to and depends from that bottom plate 11. Each inner end wall 30 is welded at its lower end to that flange 35. Likewise, the upper tray supporting platform 10 is a plate having a peripheral downwardly depending flange 37 which is welded to the side plate 30 and thus makes an integral structure. Plates 10 and 11 are similarly shaped.

The truck carriage may be variously constructed. As shown particularly in Fig. 2, it comprises a channeled ember 40 welded to the under side of the bottom plate or platform 11 and projecting across the under open side of the half cylindrical rib 16. A plurality of downwardly opening channel members 41 extend across and are welded to the horizontal flanged portion 42 of the channel iron 40 and they arealso welded to the under side of the lower level portion 34 of the plate 11. Four wheels 45 and 46 are suitably mounted in the channel irons 41. These may comprise two U-shaped channel members 47 welded inside a central channel 41 and within which the two side rollers 45 are rotatably mounted. The side wheels 45 may be mounted on ball bearing casings, but their supports are preferably rigidly. fastened so that the rollers will roll only in one direction. For convenience in turning the truck, a pair of end rollers 46 are mounted to turnin'a required direction. The

dles 56 which are preferably U-shaped rods suitably welded thereto and by which the truck may be drawn in either direction. Each end wall 55 is shaped to provide two inwardly curved vertical channels at its vertical edge portions, which have rear flanges 57 parallel to the front face of the end cover 55 and inwardly turned flanges 58. Welded at 59 to the outwardly turned flanged portion 60 of each end wall 30 is a channel member 61 which is S- shaped at its inner portion to provide a recess at 62 into which the inwardly turned flange 58 of the outer cover may slidably fit. The part 57 of the outer cover slidably rests against the parallel portion 64 of the interlocking channel member 61 and thus aids in positioning the outer cover 55. Also, the U-shaped channel irons 31 which are welded to the inner end plate 30 and the flanges 60 of the plate 30 have their outer faces substantially in contact with the inner parallel face of the end cover 55, so as to aid in supporting the latter vertically and centrally thereof. It will thus be seen that the cover plate 55 may be assembled by a vertical sliding movement at the top relative to the two outwardly projecting interlocking channel members 61 and that they will be prevented from escape either laterally or lengthwise of the truck by means of the peculiar support providing the recess 62. This end member 55 thus provides a pleasing appearance as well as serves the useful purpose of carrying the handle 56 for movement of the truck.

In its operation and use, the truck is suitably located and a set of trays 14 are mounted vertically in contiguous relation on the shelves 17 of the two platforms and 11. Since the ribs or locating spacers and 16, which are either integral with the tray supporting platforms 10 and 11 or are separate members, are wider than the rods 12 and 13 thereabove, and since the rubber strip 18 in the construction illustrated is made adequately thick, the back walls of the trays are necessarily tipped rearwardly at an angle determined by the difference in widths of the rib and the rod thereabove as well as the height of the strip 18 or the front portion of the shelf. Hence, the stack of cards piled on the bottom walls 19 of the card trays tilt rearwardly and cannot escape even if the tray wall 19 is at right angles to the back wall 20. However, for various purposes, compressors may be added to the trays and thus aid in holding the cards in place whether the trays are held bottom side up or horizontally. The cross rods 12 and 13 are of course of such heights above the supporting platforms 10 and 11 that the upper portions of the trays may lean thereagainst while their lower rear corners lie in the angle between the rounded ribs 15 and 16 and the fiat shelves 17. This truck construction is open at the sides so that the trays may be assembled on their supports or any one may be separately removed without interference with the others. There is but a single row of trays on each side of the rods 12 and 13, so that there are four rows of the vertically positioned trays, which are thus held in a compact and space-saving arrangement.

The ribs or cross members 15 and 16 constitute spacers which separate the opposite banks of trays, and even if the front of the shelf were not raised, the width of the spacer would determine the angle of tilt of the trays. However, the height of the rubber strip 18 is preferably coordinated with the Width of the spacer and the thickness of the rod above, so that the tray has a three point support formed by the strip 18, the corner angle between the spacer and the shelf bottom, and the rod above. Various other constructions may be provided for this three point support, such as other shapes which serve as a top support like the rod 12 or 13. Also, the interlocking connection between the outer wall or cover plate and the inner end wall may be variously constructed to provide for ready assembly of the parts. The vertical slideway 62 formed between the flange and the channel member or rib 61 cooperates with the inturned flange 58 of the outer vertical cover plate 55 to slidably interlock the parts together. This provides extra strength for the end walls, as well as giving a finished appearance to the truck. Also, the bottom comprising the channel members 40 and 41 is secured only to the inner end walls so that the outer cover plates 55 may be freely removed. Other advantages in the construction will be apparent.

It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made in the construction within the scope of the invention; hence the above disclosure is to be interpreted as defining a preferred construction and not as imposing limitations on the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A card tray transporting truck comprising spaced vertical end walls, a bottom forming a platform which is secured rigidly to the end walls, said walls and bottom providing a U-shaped space opening laterally and upwardly, a second platform rigidly secured centrally between the end walls, each of said platforms having a raised edge portion and a centrally located spacer extending between the end walls, the platforms forming oppositely accessible shelves on the opposite sides of and separated by the spacer, a horizontal rod vertically above and parallel to each spacer which is carried by the end walls, said rod being materially narrower than the spacer therebeneath, the front and rear portions of each shelf and the rod above the spacer providing a support for sets of vertically elongated card trays and the central spacer limiting the innermost positions of the opposite sets of trays so that they incline rearwardly at an angle defined by the difference in widths of the spacer and the rod thereabove and the height of the raised shelf front.

2. A truck according to claim 1, in which each platform is a unitary shaped metal plate having horizontal shelves connected by a channel shaped central rib forming said spacer and a depending flange rigidly secured to the end walls, and in which each raised edge portion is a strip of material secured on and near the front of the horizontal shelf.

3. A truck according to claim 1 in which each end wall has strengthening flanges providing vertical slide ways, and comprising outer wall plates provided with inturned slide members slidably interlocked with the slide ways and covering the end wall structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 334,313 Walker et al. Jan. 12, 1886 1,171,343 Klok Feb. 8, 1916 1,276,723 COllis Aug. 27, 1918 1,562,089 Holley Nov. 17, 1925 1,675,269 Hine June 26, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS 208,667 Switzerland Feb. 15, 1940 

